Indicator for electric cars



(No Mmm.) L '2 sheets-sheet 1.

. H. C. BBGKM-ANN.

`INDICATOR FOR ELECTRIC GARS.

,2 74. Patented Feb, 20, 1894.

('No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. H. C. BEGKMANN. INDIGATUR FOR ELECTRIC GARS.

. No. 515,274. Patented Feb. 20, 1894.

- UNITED STATES PATENT HENRY C. BOKMANN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

INDICATOR FOR ELECTRIC CARS.

SPECIFICA'IION formingpart of Letters Patent No.515,274, dated February 20, 1894.

Application filed August i7, 189s.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY C. BECKMANN, of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvementl in Indicators for Electric Cars,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

The subject of this invention is an improvement in station indicators, or shitting adf vertisers, or the like, for electric cars, its object being to furnish means `for shifting the station indicator, advertising card, or what not, automatically, at determined points or periods by force derived from the electric current by which the car is propelled. To this end I connect an electric motive device in said indicators, with contact devices cal'- -ried by the trolley statt, and provide suitable conductors in connection with the trolley wire at the desired points with which electric contact will be nlade, by the passage of the trolley without interrupting the even movement of the latter on the wire.

In the accompanying drawings:-Figure I is a vertical, longitudinal section of the upper portion of an electric street-car, illustrating my invention, the trolley and its accessories being shown in elevation. Fig. II is an elevation of the trolley, and the circllit closing devices for the indicator, on a larger scale, looking endwise of the car. Fig. IIIis a vertical section of the swivel base of the trolley staff, showing the means employed for maintaining the electrical connection with the indicating device, when the car is running in either direction. Fig. IV shows a section, and Fig. V a plan view of the base of the trolley swivel. Fig. VI is an under side view of the upper portion of the same detached. Y

C represents the upper portion of a street car,`on which is mounted the trolley-statt S, carrying a trolley T.

VV represents the trolley wire.

I and I indicate boxes within the car to contain station indicators, movable advertising devices, or any other object which it is desired to expose to the View of passengers,

' serial No. 483,411. (No motel.)

and to shift, from time to time, or at different points on the route. l

For the purpose of shifting the station indicator or other device, I have contrived the following means: At suitable points along the wire I apply conductors 1, in electrical contact with the wire WV, as shown in Fig. II, and supported mechanically by suitable stays 2, 2, through the medium of insulating connections 3, 3. From the conductor l hangs one or more contact rods LI, which may depend simply by gravity, or may be adapted to yield by their own elasticity, so as to yield in the direction of travel with some little resistance to the pressure of the contact rod 5, projecting laterally from the trolley staff S, and therefore moving .with the car. Or as a manifest equivalent of this, the yielding effeet may be from the elasticityof the moving contact rod 5. The said rod 5 is shown rigidly mounted upon the trolley staff S, through the medium of an insulating block 6, alld is electrically connected by a wire 7 with a suitable electric operator within the indicator box I. The electric operating device may consist of a small electric motor, or a spring device, which is tripped by the electric contact, and allowed to move step by step, in customary manner, or any well known and equivalent device.

I/Vhere, as is commonly the case, the trolley has to be reversed for running the car in opposite directions, I employ in connection with the swivel plates P, P', ot the trolley staff one or more contact buttons 8, carried by the upper plate P', to one ot' which buttons the conducting wire 7 is attached, as shown in` Fig. III, and which connects through a contact spring 9 with one or otherot the wires 7X, '7nX of the car, at the same time duplicating either the depending contact as indicated at 4, or the trolley contact as indicated at 5a, in Fig. 1I. By these means the operation of the indicator I, at one end of the car may be effected with the trolley in either position. Or

being in front of the car. Or if preferred, two or more indicators I, I', may be used simultaneously, one to denote the neXt station, and the others for advertising, or other purposes, and the wire contacts 4, 4a, and trolley contacts 5, 5a, may both be duplicated, one set operating each indicator.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination of the xed conductor 1, having a freely swinging contactrod 4 electrically connected with the trolley wire, the laterally projecting rigid contact-rod 5, moving with the car, and a suitable indicator in the car electrically connected with the rod 5, and also with the return conductor of the road, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the trolley Wire W, of the conductor l, pendulous contact-rod 4 carried by said conductor, laterally projecting rigid contact-rod 5 and conducting wire 7, carried by the trolley-staft, and an indicator I in the car having connection with Wire 7 and also with the return conductor of the road;substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In combination with a reversible trolleystaff S, the conductor 1, in contact with the electric wire W, the downwardly extendlng yielding contact-rod 4, carried by said conductor, a laterally extending rigid contact-rod 5 and conducting wire 7, carried by the swlveled trolley staff S, and contact springs. 8 and 9 in said swivel to preserve the circuit 1n eitherposition of the Wire; substantially as described.

HENRY C. BECKMANN.

In presence of- OcTAvIUs KNIGHT, A. M. EBERSOLE. 

